Our modern mythmakers became myths themselves. Some of them worked hard to maintain their image, such as Bob Kane and Stan Lee, and some had work that spoke for itself. Playwright Mark Pracht knows that in both cases, it’s hard to keep sight of the mere mortals. To really illuminate history, even in fiction, you have to find the human.
With “The House of Ideas,” Pracht pulls Stan “The Man” Lee and Jack “King” Kirby back to life-size. Narrated by “The Observer” (all us comics nerds), the fictionalized story takes us from the early days of Timely Comics to the aftermath of the “Marvel Age.” Though necessarily fictionalized, the story draws much from publicly known events and, of course, Stan Lee’s own Soapbox.
It’s no secret Stanley Lieber had ambitions beyond comics. But borderline abusive publisher/older cousin Martin Goodman has a strong thumb pushing Stanley down, while his socialite wife tries to push him up. If he compromised his principles to become Stan Lee, it’s understandable. Fate and the industry put him in a position to “help” Jack Kirby (Lee’s point of view) and together they changed comics. In Pracht’s play, that still doesn’t quell the hunger for respect that Stan wants.
From the other side, Kirby never quite gets the respect he’s due, either. The play alludes to his time running a studio with Joe Simon, when he played the same games with talent that Marvel and DC later played with him. It’s not exactly just, and never was. But comics also hadn’t been recognized as the art form they are now. They didn’t think they would live to see themselves as legends; they were just trying to make a living.
Of course, we’re seeing this from the future. The full impact of Stan Lee’s bombast wasn’t in the moment, but Jack and Stan couldn’t see it. Sure, now we recognize that both Marvel and DC didn’t understand how their ideas would resonate decades later. DC couldn’t wait to cancel Kirby’s Fourth World Saga, and now every major DC media project somehow keeps centering on it. Both men imagined more for their creations; Stan understood that he was his own greatest creation.
Capturing their fights, triumphs, and failures in full would fill books (and has). Pracht offers a taste that still feels true. We can admire and be grateful for the work both men did together and separately. We just need to remember they were men.
“The House of Ideas” follows “The Mark of Kane” and “The Innocence of Seduction” in Pracht’s Four Color Trilogy. Each can be taken on its own merit, since they’re focused on different elements of comics history. As a whole, they spotlight that comics has always been a rough industry, but because our culture allowed it. From that, you can widen the lens — it isn’t just comics. And that left me entertained, provoked, and unsettled. Whether Pracht meant to do that, I don’t know. It’s hard not to bring my own conclusions to bear. Read them for yourself, and let me know what you think.
Me? I’m still hoping a Los Angeles theater company will take these on. I love reading plays, but they are meant to be seen.
